The side decals are from some 70s era bi plane kit IRC , very thick and very shiny . So I went over them with paint to try and dull them down as well as give them a more hand painted look . Not sure if they're finished yet , might retouch them after work , need a little time away to get fresh eyes on the project . Probably would have been better to add the pistol port after the decals , they did not want to conform to the shape no matter how much decal fluid I used , ended up cutting that corner off . After all this time modelling you would think I would just do that out of habit , but oh no , I'm sure it will fit perfectly , no problem

Not much more to do really , add crew ( on order ) , stowage and weather , but I've been side tracked . A buddy wanted some spare parts , so I got some RTV rubber and cast some for him . And that led to me casting up ammo boxes and various bits and pieces including a Pzr IV cupola to add to one of my T-34s , guess I've got another Beute panzer to find decals for

The SU is still waiting for a crew and I've moved on to other things . I built 3 20mm scale PSC T-70s for one of my buddies and found the kits quite nice , will have to find some others on sale , just as a fun build . Also did a little work on my tank riders , now I have 8 on the rear of a BA T-34 . Trying to build some in a more action type pose jumping off a tank , not quite there yetSome where in the last few weeks I built the BA JS 2 , not a bad kit , it needs some cast texture added to turret and hull , I found the pistol ports to be very flat , usually very prominent . Also added cast detail to the rear machine gun , although looking through a pile of pictures there were many variations in texture as well as casting factory marks

Next build BA KV1 / 2 . Hmm , bit of a let down in IMO ( I had to buy 2 ) . The KV 1 turret hatch is too big , they included the ring on which the hatch rotates as part of the hatch , hence the hole in the roof is too big . No way to fix it without loosing the ring detail . Guess I'm going for a closed hatch . And they did the same thing with the hull hatch , pictures show it to be almost a copy of and the same size as the two round hatches on the rear deck ( transmission access ) . The KV 2 turret hatch is the perfect size . But the internal hatch detail is wrong . The locking bars on the kit form a Y on the real deal it's an upside down Y , the same locking mecanism is also on the round rear hatches . And last but not least they left off the pistol port on the rear and left side of the KV 2 turret , to me it was a wtf moment , how could you miss those ? Any way I'm going to try and build one KV 2 as a knocked vehicle , so far I've been working on the broken track and the front idler wheel

Nice conversion you did. The knocked out KV is great.I´ve got some ideas to improve them. You should replace the suggested handlebars by the use of some wire.Also there is an easy way to add some structure to. You apply some plastic cement on the area and treat it with a toothbrush.

Thks guys . The casting numbers are raised , I tried shaving some off the tabs on the sprues but they are too thin . Academy gives you a whole series of letters and numbers for just this purpose in their 1/35 US tank kits , I know I've got some somewhere ,oh well . Also you can get them in resin as decals , might have to find some for my next JS 2 . Yes wire works well for the grab bars and ladder rungs (I use paper clips myself ) , I have built some larger scale kits with that . As these are gaming pieces ,( at least one day I might play ,) or I build them and then give them to friends who play BA , so I think its better to make them a little more sturdy , nothing like spending half your gaming time looking for and fixing tiny broken parts . Instead of adding liquid glue , which works well, I've been using liquid green stuff . Sometimes the glue melts tiny detail parts

Might work better as a small detail set sort of like Rubicon 's decal sets . If you look at WW2 Russian tank walkarounds you'll notice cast marks / numbers on T-34 driver hatches and the cast bump out for the bow machine gun , as well on the lower rear casting for sprockets . Some cast KV 1 turrets have it , and its also on the cast mantle of SU 85 / 100s as well as the JSU series . And its hit and miss , depending which factory made them , hence the 3 JS turret pictures above . Would most modellers even bother in this scale , not to mention the game guys ? I know I'm going to on the next JS I build , but of the half dozen guys I know locally who build and play , I seem to be the only one whose thinking out of the box on every kit he builds .

Nice work on the IS2 & I like the way your abandoned KV2 is going. I find the Mr Surfacer products pretty reliable for adding casting texture (though I suppose all they really are is a variant on the liquid green stuff theme), as you can ususally guarantee some sort of consistency in its 'grain'.

A couple of up dates . Here's the tank riders I've tried to catch in the act of landing . This was just a straight leg swap , but I overlooked one guy having puttees and the other guy , tall boots Green stuff to the rescue . I gave one guy loose hemet straps to try and depict motion ,what do you think ?Here's a rear shot of my Stalin showing the cast effects on the turret , just added some very thin strip plastic around the MG mount and then covered with GS . Quite effective IMO More work on the KV hull , added damage to the fender and I decided to scratch a open fender box . I've done this before in 1/35 so its not too hard . Getting the lid curve is a little tricky though . What to do , cut to size then curve or curve then try to cut to size . A half dozen pieces of plastic later and a few nicks to the fingers with the Xacto and I think this will do . Now to find kit to put in the box . The Wydawnictwo Militaria / Tank Power vol. LXXXI ( KW vol. III ) 320 book has diagrams of what's in each box ( Polish text / English captions )

Its been a while since I've done any model work ,mostly watching movies . Started to work on fixing the overly large hatch on the KV hull , the turret one is going to get a pass ( for now .. ) as there's too much detail to replicate when you try to correct it . So , the molded hull hatch includes the roof ring molded to itSo I trimmed off the ring from the hatch and added the ring to the hull using .8 mm square rod curved around a nail to get a tight circle of plastic which was then cut to fit Now , this looks much betterAnd , just for fun I decided to try and make the half crew figure ( I have 3 of these guys ) a full figure using the lower legs of the Tamiya 1/48 French farmer from Tamiya British figure set . Holster and map case are BA parts from the spares box . Didn't turn out too bad if I say so myself